13 April - Definition and Overview

April 13 is the 103rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (104th in leap years). There are 262 days remaining. It is also the Ides of April.

Events

up to 19th century

• 1055 - Victor II is consecrated pope
• 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor
• 1180 - Frederick Barbarossa issues the Gelnhausen Charter
• 1598 - King Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots
• 1829 - The British Parliament grants freedom of religion to Roman Catholics
• 1849 - Hungary becomes a republic
• 1861 - American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders
• 1873 - Colfax Massacre
• 1883 - Alferd Packer is convicted of cannibalism

20th century

1900s-1980s

• 1902 - James C. Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming
• 1919 - Amritsar massacre: British and Gurkha troops massacre at least 379 unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India
• 1941 - Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed
• 1943 - The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC, on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.
• 1970 - The oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew into deadly peril.
• 1975 - An attack by Phalangists on a Palestinian bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon causes over 15 years of civil war.
• 1983 - Harold Washington is elected as the first African-American mayor in Chicago's history
• 1984 - Pete Rose becomes the first player in National League history to collect 4,000 hits
• 1985 - Enver Hoxha is succeeded by Ramiz Alia as the head of Albania's party leader
• 1986 - Jack Nicklaus wins his sixth Masters Tournament
• 1987 - Portugal and China sign an agreement in which the island of Macao would be returned to China in 1999

1990s

• 1990 - The Soviet Union admits to committing the Katyn Massacre
• 1993 - Lee Smith passes Jeff Reardon for first on the all-time saves list with his 358th save in a 9-7 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers
• 1997 - Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament
• 1997 - For the first time in 36 years, two doubleheader baseball games are played between the same pairs of cities on the same day. The San Francisco Giants v New York Mets and New York Yankees v Oakland Athletics

21st century

2000s

• 2029 - The asteroid 2004 MN4 will pass within 65,000 km of the Earth

Births

up to 18th century

• 1519 - Catherine de Medici, queen of France (d. 1589)
• 1570 - Guy Fawkes, Gunpowder Plot conspirator (d. 1606)
• 1593 - Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English statesman (d. 1641)
• 1618 - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French Writer (d. 1693)
• 1713 - Frederick (Lord) North George III's sixth prime minister (d. 1792)
• 1729 - Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore and magazine editor (d. 1811)
• 1743 - Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, born 2 April on the calendar then in use, later updated his date of birth to the Gregorian calendar after its adoption in 1753 (d. 1826)
• 1747 - Louis Philip II, Duke of Orléans (d. 1793)
• 1753 - Frederick Frelinghuysen, American statesman
• 1771 - Richard Trevithick, Mechanical Engineer and developer of the World's first locomotive (d. 1833)
• 1780 - Alexander Mitchell, Irish Engineer (d. 1868)
• 1787 - John Robertson, U.S. congressman (d. 1873)

19th century

• 1808 - Antonio Meucci, Italian Inventor (d. 1896)
• 1825 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1868)
• 1828 - Joseph Barber Lightfoot, English theologian and Bishop of Durham (d. 1889)
• 1832 - Juan Montalvo, Ecuadorian author (d. 1889)
• 1850 - Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British astronomer (d. 1917)
• 1852 - F.W. Woolworth, merchant/businessman, founder of Woolworth's (d. 1919)
• 1860 - James Ensor, painter (d. 1949)
• 1866 - Butch Cassidy, Wild West outlaw (d. 1908)
• 1872 - Alexander Roda Roda, writer (d. 1945)
• 1873 - John W. Davis, American Politician (d. 1955)
• 1875 - Ray Lyman Wilbur, 31st United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1949)
• 1880 - Charles Christie, pioneer film studio owner in Hollywood (d. 1955)
• 1881 - Ludwig Binswanger, existential psychiatrist (d. 1966)
• 1885 - Georg Lukács, Philosopher and literary critic (d. 1971)
• 1887 - Gordon S. Fahrni, Canadian physician and President of the Canadian Medical Association (d. 1995)
• 1889 - Herbert Osborne Yardley, Cryptographer (d. 1958)
• 1890 - Frank Murphy, American public servant (d. 1949)
• 1891 - Nella Larsen, African-American novelist (d. 1964)
• 1892 - Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, inventor of Radar (d. 1973)
• 1892 - Arthur Travers 'Bomber' Harris, commander of RAF's Bomber Command in World War II (d. 1984)
• 1894 - Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1973)

20th century

1900s-1910s

• 1900 - Pierre Molinier, Painter and photographer (d. 1976)
• 1901 - Jacques Lacan, psychoanalyst and semantician (d. 1981)
• 1902 - Philippe de Rothschild, Grand Prix race-car driver and wine grower (d. 1988)
• 1904 - Sir David Robinson, British philanthropist and entrepreneur (d. 1987)
• 1906 - Samuel Beckett, winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize in literature (d. 1989)
• 1907 - Harold E. Stassen, frequent candidate for President of the United States (d. 2001)
• 1909 - Eudora Welty, writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1973 (d. 2001)
• 1909 - Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, Polish-American Mathematician (d. 1984)
• 1911 - Ico Hitrec, Croat football player (d.1946)
• 1919 - Howard Keel, actor, singer, former president of the Screen Actors Guild )d. 2004)
• 1919 - Roland Gaucher, French Journalist

1920s-1930s

• 1920 - Roberto Calvi, banker (d. 1982)
• 1920 - Liam Cosgrave, fifth Taoiseach of Ireland
• 1920 - John LaPorta, jazz musician
• 1920 - Claude Cheysson, French Politician
• 1922 - John Braine, British Novelist (d. 1986)
• 1923 - Don Adams, actor (Get Smart), comedian
• 1924 - Stanley Donen, director
• 1924 - Jack Chick, Christian evangelist
• 1926 - John George Vanderbilt Spencer-Churchill, Duke of Marlborough
• 1928 - Alan Clark - maverick British politician (d. 1999)
• 1931 - Dan Gurney, Racing driver
• 1932 - Orlando Letelier, Chilean Politician (d. 1976)
• 1933 - Ben Nighthorse Campbell - American senator
• 1935 - Lyle Waggoner, actor
• 1937 - Lanford Wilson, playwright
• 1937 - Edward Fox, British Actor
• 1939 - Paul Sorvino, actor
• 1939 - Seamus Heaney, poet

1940s-1950s

• 1943 - Bill Conti, Musical Director
• 1944 - Jack Casady, musician ("Jefferson Airplane")
• 1944 - Susan Davis, American Politician
• 1945 - Bob Kalsu, American football player (d. 1970)
• 1946 - Al Green, soul singer, pastor
• 1948 - B. Allan Benson, NLRB Regional Director
• 1948 - Sue Doughty, British Politician
• 1949 - Jean-Jacques Favier, Payload specialist
• 1949 - Frank Doran, Scottish Politician
• 1950 - Ron Perlman, actor
• 1951 - Peabo Bryson, pop singer
• 1951 - Peter Davison, actor and the fifth Doctor Who
• 1951 - Max Weinberg, drummer
• 1952 - David Drew, British Politician
• 1952 - Ron Dittemore, NASA shuttle program manager
• 1953 - Stephen Byers, British Politician
• 1954 - Jimmy Destri, musician
• 1954 - Barbara Roche, British Politician
• 1955 - Ole von Beust, Mayor of Hamburg
• 1955 - Lupe Pintor, Mexican Boxer
• 1956 - Alison Wheeler, British Political activist
• 1956 - Peter 'Possum' Bourne, Australian Rally Driver (d. 2003)

1960s-1970s

• 1960 - Rudi Völler, former German national football coach
• 1962 - Hillel Slovak, original guitarist for the band Red Hot Chili Peppers (d. 1988)
• 1963 - Garry Kasparov, chess grandmaster
• 1964 - Caroline Rhea, actress
• 1970 - Rick Schroder, actor
• 1972 - Mariusz Czerkawski, ice hockey player
• 1972 - Aaron Lewis, Singer
• 1974 - Sergei Gonchar, hockey player
• 1975 - Lou Bega, musician/artist
• 1976 - Jonathan Brandis, actor (d. 2003)
• 1976 - Patrik Elias, ice hockey player
• 1978 - Arron Asham, ice hockey player

Deaths

up to 19th century

• 799 - Paul the Deacon, Monk and chronicler (b. ca 720)
• 1093 - Vsevolod I of Kiev, prince of Kiev
• 1279 - Boleslaus the Pious, a duke of Greater Poland
• 1605 - Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia
• 1638 - Henri, duc de Rohan, leader of Hugenots (b. 1579)
• 1695 - Jean de la Fontaine, folklorist (b. 1621)
• 1722 - Charles Leslie, Theologian (b. 1650)
• 1794 - Nicolas Chamfort, French writer (b. 1741)
• 1793 - Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French revolutionary (b. 1763)
• 1826 - Franz Danzi, German Composer (b. 1763)
• 1853 - James Iredell, Jr., Governor of North Carolina 1b. 1788)
• 1853 - Leopold Gmelin, German Chemist (b. 1788)
• 1855 - Henry De la Beche, English Geologist (b. 1796)
• 1868 - Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1818)
• 1880 - Robert Fortune, Scottish Botanist (b. 1813)
• 1882 - Bruno Bauer, German Theologian (b. 1809)

20th century

• 1909 - Whitley Stokes, British Lawyer (b. 1830)
• 1910 - William Quiller Orchardson, British P)ainter (b. 1835)
• 1911 - George Washington Glick, Governor of Kansas (b. 1827)
• 1911 - John McLane, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1852)
• 1912 - Ishikawa Takuboku, Japanese Author (b. 1886)
• 1925 - Elwood Haynes, automobile pioneer
• 1938 - Grey Owl, Proponent of Nature Conservation (b. 1888)
• 1941 - Annie Jump Cannon, U.S. Astronomer (b. 1863)
• 1945 - Ernst Cassirer, German-Jewish philosopher (b. 1874)
• 1962 - Culbert Olson, Governor of California (b. 1876)
• 1966 - Abdul Salam Arif, President of Iraq (b. 1921)
• 1975 - François (Ngarta) Tombalbaye, First president of Chad (b. 1918)
• 1975 - Larry Parks, American Actor (b. 1914)
• 1978 - Jack Chambers, Canadian Artist and Filmmaker (b. 1931)
• 1981 - Asaka Yasuhiko, Member of the Japanese imperial family (b. 1887)
• 1984 - Ralph Kirkpatrick, American Musician (b. 1911)
• 1984 - Richard Hurndall. British Actor and first Doctor Who (b. 1910)
• 1997 - Dorothy Frooks, American author, publisher, military figure and actress (b. 1896)
• 1999 - Willi Stoph, Chairman of the council of ministers in East Germany.

21st century

• 2000 - Giorgio Bassani, Italian writer (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis) (b. 1916)
• 2002 - Damon Knight, science fiction author (b. 1922)
• 2002 - Jon Gustafson, editor
• 2004 - Lou Berberet, Baseball player (b. 1929)
• 2004 - Caron Keating, British television presenter (b. 1962)

Holidays and Observances

• First day of Thai New Year

• Easter - 2036

April 12 - April 14 - March 13 - May 13 -- listing of all days